Interview with Actress Nicole Sullivan – Jenny Craig’s Newest Spokesperson

I recently had the opportunity to interview actress, Nicole Sullivan, who can be seen on King of Queens, Scrubs, Law & Order: SVU, Boston Legal, and Monk. She will also be starring in the Twitter based CBS Show, S**t My Dad Says with William Shatner.

Besides acting, Nicole is a mom of two children. After her first pregnancy she found her baby weight didn’t fall off naturally or as quickly as she had hoped. She tried all kinds of crash diets including a juice fast, the Master Cleanse, and even severe calorie counting. She said “I was starving myself and still couldn’t lose weight.” Near the end of her second pregnancy, vowing she wouldn’t go through the misery she faced the first time around feeling “like a loser and like I was broken” because of the extra weight, she contacted Jenny Craig looking for help and advice.

In return, Jenny Craig asked Nicole to be their next spokesperson. She started working with Jenny Craig 6 weeks after the birth of her second child. She explained that Jenny Craig works through portion control. “After you’ve done it 5-6 weeks, you get it in your brain what lunch should look like.” She said she was also provided a consultant who tailored the program a bit for her as well. “I like a glass of wine at night, so my consultant built it in.”

She swears by the Jenny Craig program saying, “In the beginning you eat 3 meals and 2 snack provided by Jenny and add in fruits, veggies, and dairy. As the program progresses you start doing meals on your own.” Near the end she was eating only 1 – 2 days of Jenny Craig provided food. When asked if she was hungry on the program, Nicole admitted that, ”If I don’t eat enough vegatables then, yeah, I’m hungry. They say to triple the portion size of the meal by adding vegatables…I usually quadruple or even five times the amount.”

Now a busy mom of two children under three, when she began the program Nicole said she didn’t have time to get to the gym, in fact she says, “The only exercise I did was walking.” She also said that, in fact, she didn’t walk at all until weeks 4 or 5 of the program. Nicole said that even then she was only walking 1 -2 times a week.

Nicole has finished the Jenny Craig program and after 4 months she lost 35 lbs and is now walking 5-6 times a week for 30 minutes. She feels, “My outlook is so much better. I’m so much happier as a mom.”

Her husband also did Jenny Craig along with her and lost 25 lbs. She said it was nice  to have him eating the Jenny Craig food too because then she was only preparing two different meals essentially – one for the kids and one for herself and her husband. She also said Jenny Craig made mealtime more of a family experience for her. “In the past, I would wait until the kids would go to bed to eat and then I would be starving and end up shoving foods like pizza in.”

She also explained that Jenny Craig costs $12-18 per day depending on the day. She justified this price by comparing the purchase of a salad for lunch at a deli which could run $9 alone.

Nicole graciously ended the interview by thanking moms who write blogs, “I love all your stories. Thanks for all your hard work.”

How about you? Have you ever tried Jenny Craig or other similar weight loss programs?